White House chides Republicans on unemployment extension

The White House warned Thursday that two million Americans will lose unemployment benefits by the end of December unless Congress extends emergency rules that let the jobless collect benefits for up to 99 weeks, as opposed to the standard 26 weeks.

Nearly seven million Americans will lose the extra weeks of support during 2011 according to a White House report that made an economic as well as a humanitarian case for the continuation of these extraordinary benefits.

“Letting millions more Americans fall into hardship will hurt our economy at this critical point in our recovery and immediately undermine consumer spending,” said CEA Chairman Austan Goolsbee.

As previously reported by the Chronicle, Republicans have insited that all Bush era tax cuts be renewed as the first order of business. They argue that unemployment benefits should only be extended if Congress finds offsetting cuts to compensate for the estimated $50 billion cost of a year-long extension of long term benefits.